Measuring Your Web Site Traffic
Measuring website traffic is the process of analysing the users who visit your website. Website traffic is measured in sessions or visits.
The most common attributes examined are;
- Sessions (number of times a website is visited).
- Users (number of individual IP addresses that visit the website).
- Bounce Rate (the percentage of visitors who leave the site after viewing only one page.
- Session duration (the average time a user spends on A site).
- Pages (number of pages viewed).
The behaviour of visitors to web pages;
- Which pages are viewed.
- Which pages do users enter the site through.
- Which pages do users leave the site through.
Acquisition of website traffic is another important metric.
Where did the the traffic come from;
- Search
- Website referral
- Advertising
- Social
Google analytics is the most prolific and effective tool for measuring and analysing website traffic.
When eCommerce went through it’s growth phase in the 90’s, website traffic was the most important method to determine the effectiveness of a website.
Traffic analysis tools are more comprehensive today and the behaviour of users has become more important than website traffic itself. The ‘why’ is more important than the ‘what’ or number of visits.
We can now find out how long users stay, what percentage make a purchase or perform a desired action, and what is the cost per action / sale.
Actions users perform on a website and why can be very useful data. Businesses can tailor user experience and the products and services they offer based on the behaviour of users on their websites.